Modern Furniture Design

To close off the season we bring you part 2 of my interview with Director of Product Design at UTS, Stefan Lie. In this episode I ask him about his Ribs bench - his signature furniture design piece from the 90s and the effect that it had on his career

In Episode 10, Furniture Designer and Director of Product Design at University of Technology Sydney, Stefan Lie helps me uncover what it takes to make a furniture or object design, iconic. Plus we discuss whether furniture design is innate or whether it is a skill that can be taught. We also ponder upon the relevance of iconic designs in this current day and age. This is part 1 of a 2 part interview.

We’re picking up from where we left off in Part 1 of my conversation with Architect Tom Fryer from Cox. 20 years ago when He and I first met Tom was just one of those creatives with whom I really clicked and he opened my world up to fresh perspectives. We talk more about his creative process, debate the pros and cons of collaboration in design and I ask him to share with us 3 design pieces that shaped his career - I think you’ll find his nominations fascinating.

My guest today is an old sparring partner from my early years in design. Tom Fryer is now a Senior Architect at Cox having studied at Yale but has been in the past a graphic designer and furniture designer too. In Part 1 of our conversation we reminisce about the founding of the Workshopped furniture design exhibition and talk about his creative process.

In this special mini episode we proudly highlight 2 underrated Australian Design Icons of global significance by Sebel; The Integra injection moulded chair of 1973 and The Sunlounge. Integra was the world’s first single piece, fully injection moulded chair ever an unheralded feat of engineering and Australian ingenuity matched only by another Sebel product The Sunlounge of 1984. This largely underrated Australian Furniture design icon held the title of the world’s largest injection moulded product for many years before it became common in the Auto industry to mould single piece car bumpers. Both are still sold today and both are held in the collection of the Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences. Both have won the Australian Design Award for their innovation and both have sold internationally in the millions.

In Part 2 I ask Anton to nominate the furniture design stars of today. Our conversation moves onto our emotional connection to furniture and if they spoke, the stories that they could tell! We conclude by sharing our top 3 chair designs of ALL time. Comment below and let us know yours and why.

In Part 1 of my chat with guest, UTS Furniture Design Lecturer Anton Nemme, we try to uncover the reasons behind the popularity of furniture design through the generations. Why does furniture design seem to capture the design world’s attention? What are the qualities of this off shoot discipline that attracts the attempts of architects, fashion designers and film makers to dabble in this space? Tune in to find out.

Welcome to part 2 of my conversation with veteran industrial designer, Graeme Macdonald at his studio in Sydney’s Vaucluse where the topic shifts from his career highlights to the design heroes that we grew up on. As you will hear, whilst we agree on many things, Graeme takes apart some of the star designers of today who have inspired me in my career. And just a warning this episode contains some fruity language. From Joe Colombo to Syd Mead I hope you enjoy listening to Graeme’s insightful perspective.

I first struck a friendship with Graeme MacDonald more than 20 years ago over our mutual admiration of furniture. At the seminal industrial design consultancy, Design Field in Paddington where I started my career, I would pore over Graeme’s enviable collection of rare furniture design books on B&B Italia, Charles and Ray Eames and Jean Prouve. MacDonald of Cube Design is an award winning industrial designer of consumer products that have sold in the millions most notable of all perhaps is the Ikon kettle for Breville which he codesigned with another design mentor of mine, Paul Cohen.

His account of how he won the job gives us a fascinating insight into how unsolicited design pitches succeed or fail. Also In this episode we talk about the design heroes that inspired us and discover that, like most things of this nature - it’s generational.

>> Firstly, my heart goes out to all Italians who are suffering unimaginable trauma at this time due to the Covid19 pandemic. In this episode of Modern Furniture Design we celebrate Italian Design and seek to uncover what makes Italy a powerhouse in the world of design with Berto Pandolfo. A former industrial designer for iconic lighting design manufacturer Flos and now Senior Lecturer in Product Design at UTS, Berto is a veteran of the Milan Furniture Fair AKA il Salone Del Mobile. As well as walking us through the event both in the past and into today, I ask Berto about the origins of Il Salone and we examine the driving forces behind the strength of postwar Italian Design and manufacturing. From Achille Castiglioni to Zanotta, I hope you enjoy this episode recorded in early January 2020.